Dinner with Friends
by December
Summary: This time next year, I'll be out having dinner, and run into some friends we both knew." Eating alone during the holidays is harder when you run into reminders of your life as part of a couple...and find out the other part of the couple has moved on


Dinner…with Friends

Dinner…with Friends

The holiday season was a rotten time to be single again, she decided, regardless of how long ago one had been dumped. Every time she walked into a store, she'd think of the gift she'd gotten him. The one she finally returned last week. She'd walk down the street and see couples holding hands, and she'd want to throw up. Or cry.

She was behaving like such a girl about this. The ironic thing? He'd told her that initially liked her because she handled break-ups like a guy. No tears. Not overly emotional. No games. Maybe the fact that he liked the way she handled break-ups should have told her something.

But the other thing that sucked about being dumped before the holiday season? Hearing sad Christmas songs.

"Case in point," she muttered to herself as she waited for a table at the trendy café in Windsor. The owners, for some reason, thought that playing Toni Braxton's "This Time Next Year" would get people in the holiday spirit. It was even more annoying for the blonde, as she done a lot of the things mentioned in the song since her break-up.

"Stupid Derek," she muttered to herself as the hostess walked her to her table. "At least I haven't done the whole, 'out having dinner and run into some friends we both knew' thing."

And she hadn't. She'd been really careful about that. To the point where she didn't eat out in London anymore. Too many people knew her former boyfriend – and the sympathy stares were getting on her nerves. Besides, eating in London she might also run into them together. Given her reactions of late, she didn't think she would handle that well, either.

She really didn't know how to deal with being alone on the holidays after making such an investment in a relationship that didn't work. She almost wished she could talk to someone who had been through something like this before. Like Casey.

But Casey was the last person she could talk to. Especially about this. And the sad thing? She couldn't even be angry at Casey or Derek about what happened. All it meant was that she was sans boyfriend and less one friend for the upcoming Boxing Day.

"Sally?" a female voice asked.

Looking up from her menu, Sally met a familiar set of brown eyes. She groaned quietly. It was just this sort of thing that she was trying to avoid. In front of her was Emily Davis…who, of course, had a date with her.

Life sucked.

"Hi, Emily," Sally managed as she smiled at the black woman. "What brings you here?"

"My fault," her date answered and he popped over. "I was in the area and wanted to take Em here somewhere nice."

"And he wanted to hide from panicked Derek-" Emily abruptly stopped. "Oh! I'm sorry, Sally. I shouldn't have mentioned –"

"No, no. It's okay," Sally kept the smile on her face with effort. "Besides, I know how pushy Derek can be when he wants something." Sally stopped to look at Emily's date. He looked familiar, but different. She searched her memory bank of Derek's friends and Casey's friends and couldn't come up with a name. "This is going to sound really awful," Sally prefaced, "but remind me of your name again? I know we've met before, but it's been awhile."

Luckily, the guy chuckled good-naturedly. "Being in Newfoundland for years will do that. I'm Sheldon," he smiled as he held out his hand.

Sally shook it. "Sheldon. You were Emily's date to the junior prom, right?"

Sheldon laughed, "You remember that? With all of the Casey drama of the night, I thought I was pretty forgettable."

Emily hit his arm at the end of his statement. "You are not forgettable."

Sally smiled as she remembered the first prom she attended with Derek, "Especially not that night," she agreed.

The couple in front of her both blushed at Sally's response.

"So, why are you in the area? Relocating back this way?" Sally asked - mainly to be polite.

Suddenly looking uncomfortable, Sheldon replied, "I'm not relocating back this way quite yet," he acknowledged as he looked at Emily. Emily glanced back at him, looking ten times more uncomfortable than he did.

An awkward silence fell for a few moments, as Emily and Sheldon looked at each other, seemingly communicating with each other with nervous looks. "What?" Sally finally asked, wanting to know what changed the mood of the conversation.

"Well…Sheldon's in the area for the wedding."

Weddings over the holidays. Way to make a dumped girl feel worse. "A holiday wedding? Who's getting married?"

The couple stared at her. "You mean…you don't know?" Emily asked quietly.

"Open mouth, insert foot," Sheldon muttered. Emily glared at him.

"Okay, then," Sally was sure her confusion showed on her face as she looked back and forth between the couple. "Should I know who's getting married?"

"Oh, look!" Emily practically shouted. "That's the hostess. We should go to our table now," the young woman insisted as she grabbed her date and began to drag him away from Sally's table. "It was nice to see you, Sally."

Sally smiled politely as she watched Emily lead Sheldon away. Fortunately, their conversation with her was over. Unfortunately, she heard the rest of their conversation as they left the table.

"I can't believe she doesn't know!" Emily said to her date.

"But why would she? It's not like Derek would have told her," Sheldon pointed out.

"Why not?" Emily asked. "I mean, they were friends after a fashion before. And they did work together for awhile."

"Emily, Derek and Sally are not like Sam and Casey. But it's a good thing that Sam and Casey are like Sam and Casey, given that Sam's the best man and all."

After this odd insight, the couple's voices had gotten quieter. Sally had to strain to hear them. Later, she would wish she'd ignored her curiosity and stopped listening.

"Wow," Emily continued. "I'm still amazed she doesn't know. But we can't tell Casey about this," Emily suddenly added.

"Why?"

"Come on, Sheldon. You remember Casey, right? My best friend Casey? She'll angst about this for days, decide she needs to tell Sally about the wedding, and then come up with an elaborate plan to do so. On top of everything else? I think Casey might explode."

"She seems like a happy bride-to-be to me," Sheldon seemed to disagree.

"Only because of whom she's marrying and the fact that he's not letting her over-plan this thing. Although he did have to resort to pranking her out of over-planning earlier this week."

"Derek. He even has to be the exception to the rules when he's the groom."

"Pretty much," Emily agreed.

Sally sat as still as stone in her booth. Wedding? Casey as "happy bride-to-be"? Derek as "the groom"? No. He wouldn't be….They wouldn't be….Not this soon. Right?

Being single during the holidays sucked. Especially as Sally seemed destined to live out the lyrics of a Toni Braxton song. She guessed it could be worse, although she wasn't sure how.

"Shit," she whispered as she blinked a bit. Not the merriest Christmas ever. At least, not for her. And she had been asked not to celebrate Derekus this year.

- the end -

_This fic was for the 2008 lyrical challenge and inspire by the lyric "This time next year, I'll be out having dinner, and run into some friends we both knew." I hope you enjoyed it. It was a quick bit of angsty fun while I'm working on other projects. Thanks for everyone who took a glance at it before I posted it._

_And thanks for reading._


End file.
